In the latest Orange County, California clergy sex abuse case against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, a 29-year-old man claims that a priest molested him while he served as a St. Norbert Church altar boy in the 90's.
The name of the plaintiff has not been revealed--he is called John DC Doe in his Orange County, California civil complaint--but his personal injury attorney says that his client's alleged abuser is Monsignor Sinon Falvey.
Falvey was at St. Norbert's from 1976 to 1989. The plaintiff's California clergy abuse lawyer says that the priest was retired, but living at the parish, when the alleged molestation incidents occurred. Falvey died in 2005.
The plaintiff's Santa Ana personal injury lawsuit accuses Falvey of making friends with the victim and gaining his trust so that he could molest the boy. Joelle Casteix, of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, alleges that it now appears that Falvey not only covered up sex abuse incidents involving other priests, but he also abused his own victims. Casteix says other people have come forward claiming that Falvey molested them.
Already, this is the fourth clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Orange County, California diocese in 2009. A former student sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in June. He claims that two Huntington Beach priests molested him in the 1990's. In April, a former priest says that a La Habra priest drugged and molested him when he was a teenager.
Last February, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled the Orange County, California sex abuse lawsuit filed by a man who claims that he was molested by a priest in Costa Mesa. Also, the diocese has shelled out $1.5 million over multiple personal injury claims accusing Father John Lenihan of clergy sex abuse.
Clergy Sex Abuse
According to the National Catholic Reporter, US religious orders and dioceses spent over $436 million last year to settle and pay other costs related to clergy sex abuse allegations. This figure is 29% lower than the more than $615 million that was paid out in 2007.
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University says that last year, US eparchies and dioceses were hit with 625 clergy child sex abuse claims. Most of the complaints referred to alleged molestation incidents that occurred in the 1960's and 1970's.
Lawsuit claims priest molested altar boy in 1990s, OC Register, June 30, 2009
Costs for clergy sex abuse at $2.6 billion, NCROnline.org, March 14, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
